In order to get the best out of this web site, you need to be aware of two things: what limitations exist in reviewing coffee and what the various terms in these reviews mean.
Limitations In Reviewing Coffee
There are a number of factors that determine how what is in your bag of coffee will translate into the cup and whether or not your experience will match up to the reviewers’ description of their experiences. These factors include:
- Age: Contrary to what some would have you believe, coffee is a product with a limited shelf life. Aim to consume coffee within its optimum window, which will vary from roaster to roaster with such things as roast profile, bean selection and packaging method. Coffee that is too fresh will often be thin bodied, sour and, as espresso, will produce voluminous crema that quickly collapses. Coffee that is too old will often taste bitter, ashy and will result in a watery espresso extraction. (Coffee reviews on this site will specify the age of the coffee, if known, when it is reviewed.)
- Seasonality: The fundamental point that coffee is a crop means that it can change from season to season. A single origin coffee that received rave reviews one year may be utterly awful the next if, for example, there are problems in growing, processing, shipping or storing the coffee. The current crop single origin that received rave reviews several months ago may start to lose its magic as the green coffee ages … or in some circumstances, a single origin coffee may improve as it ages. The constantly changing nature of coffee as a crop affects roasters, too. Keeping the flavour profile of a blend constant despite changing crops requires a tremendous amount of skill and effort. Roasters will change the components of their blends and their roasting and packaging profiles as the green coffee available to them changes. These changes may be voluntary or out of necessity, proactive or reactive, noticeable or unnoticed and – importantly – for the better or for the worse. (Coffee reviews on this web site are to be interpreted with seasonality in mind.)
- Roasting: Every roast presents the roaster an opportunity to make or break the finished product. A number of factors may mean that a particular roast does not live up to the previous one … or that it exceeds it.
- Your skill: Your role in making coffee can make or break what is in the cup. To unlock the full potential of what you get from the roaster, you must select good equipment, keep it clean and use it correctly. This is not the place to give a dissertation on correct brewing procedures, save to note that tiny inconsistencies can be magnified far beyond what one would expect. For example, inadvertently using a gram too much coffee can be the difference between a glorious, balanced espresso that brings out all of the nuances of your coffee and a generic ristretto that leaves you wondering why you went to the effort of sourcing that particular coffee. (Coffee reviews on this web site may provide brewing tips.)
- Your palate: It is relatively well documented that some people perceive different tastes differently and perception can certainly be affected by exposure to coffee. It is always interesting to see people attend their first formal coffee cupping. Almost invariably, their ability to pick the difference exceeds their expectations. As people’s exposure to coffee grows, however, their ability to pick different flavours increases. (Coffee reviews on this web site aim to decrease the effect of individual palates by using a panel of reviewers; flavours are also divided into strong and subtle.)
For these reasons, coffee reviews on this web page provide little more than a starting point for your own exploration.
Terms in Reviews
This web site will offer reviews of coffee used to prepare three basic types of beverage:
- brewed coffee other than espresso;
- espresso;
- espresso-based milk drinks (cappuccino).
Sometimes reviews of a coffee will cover more than one of these types of beverages.
This FAQ entry is a work in progress and will be continued … LC.
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